This apparatus is a harvesting machine. It is particularly useful with a stalk crop. The term stalk crop refers to a crop which grows in the form of stalks. The stalks are typified by sweet sorghum or sugar cane. They typically grow a leaved stalk which stands reasonably tall. Typically, the stalk can be upwards of two or three meters tall and is a few centimeters in diameter. It normally has a hollow stalk of fibers. It is the kind of crop which is best harvested by clear cutting of the field in which it is mature. A field of sweet sorghum or sugar cane is thus harvested by moving the apparatus of this disclosure through the field, feeding the stalks, ideally without leaves, into the apparatus which moves into a row to force the stalks into the harvester. The present apparatus incorporates such a cutting device, and the preferred and illustrated embodiment discloses a single row cutting head typified by Model CB 600 manufactured by Gehl. This apparatus is ideally appended to the Gehl cutting apparatus. It thus cooperates with the cutting apparatus to receive the individual cut stalks in a continuous flow as the harvesting machinery moves through the field, and the stalks are thereafter chopped or cut. The fibrous mass which remains after liquid extraction is blown out of the machine and is distributed onto the field. Returning the chopped stalks to the field is a wise soil preservation technique.
This apparatus is particularly adapted for use with stalk crops having a wide range of stalk dimensions. For instance, the device will operate quite nicely with small, thin reed-like stalks. It will also crush and extract the liquid of interest from heavy, large stalks. The device is able to handle a relatively high throughput. This aids in permitting the device to run through the field at a more rapid rate. Conversely, should the harvest be skimpy, the rate of processing may be severely reduced but this device nevertheless continuously extracts a liquid from the feed stock, without regard to the rate at which the feed stock is furnished.
This device assists in extracting a liquid from stalk crops. The liquid is an extraction obtained by crushing. The liquid is principally water and various soluable sugars or carbohydrates from the stalk. To some extent, rind and pith fibers may be chopped so finely that they are recovered also with the liquid material. The liquid that is recovered is described hereinafter as the syrup. The cut stalk, after chopping and before crushing, is defined hereinafter as billets.
With the foregoing problem in view, this apparatus is described in summary fashion as a harvesting machine which finds application in harvesting stalk crops, particularly sweet sorghum and sugar cane. The device includes a cutter which cuts the stalk crop near the ground to recover most of the stalk. The stalk falls into the equipment and is fed conveyor fashion into the apparatus. The entire stalk is first passed through a pair of spaced rollers. The rollers rotate in opposite directions to feed the stalks between them. The two rollers are equipped with knife edges or splines. While they do not have to be sharp as a knife, they nevertheless function similar to knife or clamp and are sharp to pinch the stalks at a number of spaced points. The pinched segments are normally not separated from the stalk because they may hang tenuously together on fibers. The many stalks are fed in a continuous flow into the next portion of the apparatus, an extraction roller. The extraction roller comprises a top roller and a pair of facing lower rollers. The lower rollers mesh closely with the top roller. The top roller has a grooved outer face which is formed of metal.
As the stalks pass the extraction roller, the stalks are squeezed or crushed. The top roller is a grooved roller working against a pair of meshing rollers. The first is grooved while the second is smooth. The top roller, being grooved, cooperates with the other rollers to squeeze and otherwise crush the stalks. Liquid flows downwardly into a container, and this comprises the syrup of interest. The crushed stalks are ejected from the apparatus.